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MANHATTAN — New Kansas State coach Bruce Weber admits he doesn’t have much purple in his wardrobe.

Packing for a weekend at the Final Four in New Orleans, Weber instead boarded a flight Friday night to the Little Apple after accepting athletic director John Currie’s offer to be the 24th men’s basketball coach at K-State.

Somebody in the athletic department helped him out as he entered the Legends Room at Bramlage Coliseum in a suit with a borrowed purple tie.

“They found that for me,” Weber said. “I didn’t have much purple.”

Expect that to change in the coming days as Weber replaces Frank Martin, who left for South Carolina less than a week ago. Since then, Currie has been working at a feverish pace to install a new coach while insisting he wasn’t rushing, but working efficiently.

Weber called the hire a whirlwind affair. Search consultant Todd Turner approached Currie on Tuesday to set up a meeting, and everything developed rapidly from there.

“A few hours ago I was in New Orleans thinking I was going to have gumbo,” Weber said. “Now I’m up in front of the mic.”

Weber’s hire drew criticism on social media platforms and message boards almost as soon as word spread Saturday morning that he was the Wildcats’ choice, but the new coach is chiefly concerned with winning over his players.

“Hopefully as time goes on, (the fans) will be excited that I’m the coach,” Weber said. “The one thing we talked about in our meetings, the first thing I have to do is win over the players.

“If I win over the players and win, the fans are coming. So that’s got to be my No. 1 priority — I figured that out many years ago.”

Weber’s five-year contract is much the same as Martin’s renegotiated deal in 2010. He will be paid $1.5 million this upcoming season and is scheduled to receive a $100,000 raise each of the following four years, bringing the total contract to $8.5 million.

Weber comes to K-State after nine years at Illinois, where he was fired after a 17-15 finish this season.

Weber experienced early success after replacing Bill Self in Champaign, leading the Illini to the Sweet 16 and the national title game in his first two seasons. Illinois went downhill from there, though, missing the NCAA Tournament in three of Weber’s final five seasons and failing to advance past the second round after the 2005 title game appearance.

Weber also coached five seasons at Southern Illinois, leading the Salukis to the Sweet 16 in 2002.

“I think my track record shows what I’ve done as a coach,” Weber said. “We’ve done it all, and I’m excited to be here.”

Weber got the chance to meet with most of his new team before the news conference Saturday, and several players stuck around to hear what Weber had to say to the media. Notable missing players were all three freshmen who contributed for the Wildcats this past season — Angel Rodriguez, Thomas Gipson and Adrian Diaz — as well as leading scorer Rodney McGruder, who was home recovering from foot surgery.

“The freshmen were in Kansas City and didn’t get back,” Weber said. “I’m looking forward to have the chance, hopefully later this afternoon, to meet with them and I’ll meet with them all individually.”

Count Will Spradling as one player excited to play for Weber. The junior-to-be cited friction between players and coaches this past season.

“He seems like he really likes to communicate with the players, which is something I felt like we didn’t do a great job (of) last year,” Spradling said. “We kind of had a communication barrier.”

Spradling said he expects most all of his teammates to return next season.

“I feel like the team we have right now is so close, we don’t want to split up,” he said. “I know a lot of the players are excited to play for Coach Weber and are excited by the coaching decision.”

For Weber, coming to K-State was a “no-brainer” after he learned more about the job. Actually doing that homework proved tough in the midst of a highly secretive coaching search.

“It was hard — I had to do it quietly and ask the right people what they thought and about the players,” Weber said. “I even had some guys, people I know, get ahold of some of the players just to find out what their mindset was.”

The new coach dismissed any notion that differences between Martin and Currie made him leery of the K-State job.

“I think sometimes little things get blown up,” Weber said. “Anytime you have a relationship — if you have a wife — it’s not always hugs and kisses; there’s always discussions.

“Even with your players, your kids, whatever it might be, it’s never perfect. The thing I really liked about John was his thoroughness.”

Weber said he wants to retain someone familiar with the Wildcats on his new staff. Associate head coach Brad Underwood could be a possibility but likely will follow Martin, who already has offered Underwood a position on his South Carolina staff.

“I want to either keep somebody on staff that’s been here, or somebody that is a former athlete here — somebody with K-State ties,” Weber said. “I think it’s important to have somebody that knows the lay of the land.”

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As an avid K-State fan, thank goodness (and Bill Snyder) we have football. I like Frank's style and it seems to be just what the Michael Beasley's and other inner city kids need. Currie got his way with a yes man. End result will be a losing program and eventually Currie and Weber will both be gone. In the meantime, we fans will have to be content watching K-State football and agonize while we watch Frank's strong foundation tumble to the ground.

I root for the Cats when my Hawks arent on the other half of the court and I gotta say that this is insane! I'm with aa, surely this couldnt have been K States first choice. And now we have to get used to that voice again. Devestating for KSU.

Haven't heard from any of my KSU friends who are happy with this hire. The AD is scooping up a a guy who has a losing mentality and can't recruit in Illinois. How will he do it in Manhattan, of all places? Sorry Cat fans for this lame hire. I cry with you.

Please change your minds or say this is a joke! Wow why would you even do this?? Can't see how this benefits Kstate or even Currie's resume at all by hiring a burnt out coach who clearly can't recruit to be the head coach at Kstate - an assistant perhaps, but not as head coach. Wow what a blow.

Weber or a Weber type of coach was the only option for Curry. After the way the administration handled Frank, did anyone think a quality coach would jump at the "opportunity" ? Back to going dancing once every five years if we are lucky. The only good thing about this hire is that when Weber is fired Curry will be fired.

I mean he really isnt a bad coach, Illinois wasnt a terrible team and they made the NCAA tournement, but I dont like the hire.......He doesnt have the zest that Frank Martin has, and yes he does kinda remind me of Jim Woolridge..I would like to see how the season plays out, but Currie could have done much better...

As a big KU fan I can not even be happy for this hire. I feel for the KSU nation. Could have gotten a lot better coach with the program you have. I will not be able to cheer for you when you are not playing us as I did in the past. Never liked Bruce at Ill. He is a bad hire. The only happy thing is KU and Bill can bury Bruce twice a year.

that Currie wanted to make. A Big Ten dropout. Just like I was afraid. He intentionally ran off Coach Martin so he could make a resume building hire. Instead he showed his complete lack of judgement and whiffed. Currie needs to go now and like I've done before my money will go to non athletic avenues till Currie is gone. He couldn't follow Self and keep the ball rolling why would anyone expect anything different. It doesn't make sense why Currie would rush to make such a bad hire.

I understand that from this so called list he already had to work from at least the one candidate and possibly 2 said no(supposedly due to Curries reputation and also some terms Currie wanted) and 3rd or 4th on the list was Weber and he ran over himself accepting. This equals the RP hire. I thought is was an Aprils Fools joke when I first read it. And then after seeing it on several sites I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I'm bled purple since 68 and these types of decisions are beginning to test my mettle. I had heard for almost a year about his wanting to make a "home run" hire and a resume building hire. And some close to the Athletic dept saying he was making things miserable for Coach Martin so he would decide to leave. So far his plan has worked. I don't thin what happens over the next 3 years will though. My prediction is if enough of Martin's players return Weber will have a decent year next year. He will get an extension and then in year 2 the wheels will start to fall off and by year 3 the train will leave the tracks and we will be back where we were in the 90's. After year 2 Currie will see the writing on the wall and bail. And we will be left to ride the wreck out without him. What a future to look forward too. I can't believe some major donors aren't complaining. I know one who wasn't happy how he was treating Coach Martin. When the wheels start falling off it will be interesting to see how long of a leash Currie is on.

Henson? Jankovich? No, KState has resigned themselves to the bottom half of the conference. Maybe Currie is unaware of Big 10 sports. As Illinois is certainly an easier place to recruit and he brought no big name recruits in, things don't look very good.